Experience of Application of Magnetic Resonance Myelography Methods in Patients with Neurological and Neurosurgical Pathology

Abstract

Purpose — to study the possibilities of clinical application of MR-myelography techniques in static and dynamic modes in patients with various neurological and neurosurgical pathologies accompanied by CSF dynamics disorders. On the Philips 1.5 and 3.0 T MRI scanners, an extended protocol for examination of patients with cerebrospinal fluid disorders was presented. The protocol includes, in addition to routine sequences (T1-, T2-WI, FLAIR), thin-slice MP-myelography in a static mode (CSF-DRIVE, 3DMYUR) with soft tissues signal suppression. Also, a cinema-technique of MR myelography (CSF-PCA) in the optimal projection and a phase-contrast method with a quantitative assessment of the cerebrospinal fluid flow at the pathology level and at adjacent levels were performed. The assessment of the diagnostic significance of the proposed research protocol was carried out. The extended study protocol was applied in patients with idiopathic normotensive hydrocephalus, obstructive hydrocephalus, Chiari malformation type I, in patients with syringomyelia at the level of the cervical spinal cord and showed high efficiency in assessing of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in patients with a neurological and neurosurgical profile. The use of extended approach allows to more fully evaluate the state of the cerebrospinal fluid system, the patency of the cerebrospinal fluid (the presence of additional septa / membranes, partial / complete stenosis and narrowing), as well as preand postoperative morpho-functional changes.